Folk urged to join anti-Lynas blockade at Kuantan Port

An anti-Lynas group is urging concerned citizens to join a blockade at the Kuantan Port next Tuesday to protest against Lynas Corporation's second shipment of rare earth ore.

Save Malaysia, Stop Lynas (SMSL) chairperson Tan Bun Teet (right) urged the public to park their cars at the port's entrance at 11pm on Tuesday to stop the delivery of the shipment from Australia to the Lynas refinery plant in Gebang, about 7km away.

"We are aware that the shipment will proceed despite the blockade, but we want to send a strong message that both the government and Lynas are behaving irresponsibly," he told Malaysiakini when contacted today.

Asked how many are expected to join the protest, Tan said it was hard to put an estimate on it but he hoped a lot of people would come to show their support.

"We are planning to stay at the port for about six hours until the company (Lynas) hauls up the cargo by 5am the next day as the rare earth oxide is expected to reach the port in the early hours," he explained.

Last November, more than 100 containers of rare earth ore were transported to the Gebeng plant in the wee hours of the morning under heavy police escort.

Meanwhile, in a joint press statement today, Kuantan member of parliament Fuziah Salleh and Indera Mahkota MP Fauzi Abdul Rahman said in order for this second shipment of rare earth oxide to be imported, an import licence issued by AELB is mandatory.

Since the Lynas Advanced Material Plant (Lamp) began operations on Sept 3, 2012, they said the company had already breached several conditions of its Temporary Operating License (TOL).

"Yet AELB seems helpless and powerless in monitoring as well as enforcing its own set of regulations.

"On the contrary, AELB seems to be bending over backwards to defend Lynas instead of the rakyat," said the statement.

Reveal where toxic waste to be kept

Both MPs also reiterated that AELB should disclose the location of permanent disposal facility (PDF), where the radioactive waste from the refining process would be stored.

Under the TOL's terms and condition, they said the PDF location was to be identified within 10 months from the date of TOL issuance, and that deadline was July 3 this year.

However, AELB director-general Raja Abdul Aziz Raja Adnan said Lamp's proposal of the PDF did not indicate a location.

He said that the site would no longer be required as the board was satisfied with the research done by the Australian company to recycle the toxic waste into various products - all of which must exported under the TOL.

To this, both Fuziah and Fauzi said that up to now, Lynas had not announced the export of its recycled waste out of the country.

With a few days before the arrival of more rare earth oxide in Kuantan Port, they urged the public to stand up for their right to a healthy environment.

"The government too must put the interest and safety of the public above the interest of foreign corporations," they stressed.